A Merry Christmas from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to the American people: He’s killed the bloated, inflation-fueling, misguided welfare- state expansion that was the Build Back Better bill. His position has been clear for months, yet fellow Democrats kept ignoring his objections, even encouraging their voters to threaten him.
Manchin finally has had enough. “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin told host Bret Baier on “Fox News Sunday.”
Hallelujah.
The $5 trillion BBB bill would have been a handout to Democrat-backed unions, federalizing child-care and pre-K workers into their ranks. It was full of gifts for everyone from rich people living in Democratic states (via the state and local tax deduction) to journalists (via media subsidies).
Besides being a colossal waste of money, its “climate change” subsidies would have hurt Manchin’s state of West Virginia, where they want lumps of coal in their stockings.
In this Dec. 13, 2021, photo, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., leaves his office after speaking with President Joe Biden about his long-stalled domestic agenda
The legislation would have driven up the cost of everything for everyone — adding to our already historic inflation. It was nowhere close to being “paid for,” as President Biden claimed.
And yes, it is $5 trillion, not the $1.75 trillion Democrats dishonestly advertised — by pretending programs would disappear after a year or two, when they knew they’d extend them forever. Even not accounting for that gimmick, the bill would add at least $367 billion to the federal deficit.
Thanks to the various COVID relief bills in the past two years, federal debt has grown from 67.3 percent of GDP to a whopping 122.5 percent of GDP. And we haven’t even come close to spending all the money! AOC and the progressives won’t be happy until there’s a giant mountain of cash just burning on the Capitol steps.
The Capitol is seen in Washington, early Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, after President Joe Biden said last night he was unable to come to an agreement with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., The legislation would have driven up the cost of everything for everyone. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Credit to Manchin for having the common sense — and the courage — to stand up to this. But let’s not claim that this is the objections of “one man.” At least 51 senators now will vote against Build Back Better. Media and the progressives (or do we repeat ourselves?) like to pretend the Republicans don’t exist.
Watch the authoritarian Squad push for increasingly undemocratic measures to get what they want. We’re sure they’ll falsely claim Biden can enact these programs through executive fiat.
Democrats and the media (again we stutter) will portray Manchin as the Grinch, but he’s done them a favor. The American people elected Joe Biden for a return to normalcy, less of the Donald Trump Twitter dramas and an end to COVID. Biden instead took a razor-thin House majority and a tied Senate as an excuse to push through the largest expansion of social welfare since the New Deal.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., walks past reporters after attending a lengthy Democratic Caucus meeting as the Senate continues to grapple with end-of-year tasks at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.
Americans see the result: COVID flaring up again, inflation eating into their earnings, a president either absent or incomprehensible. Passing BBB would have made it even worse.
Perhaps this will move the Biden administration to focus less on pie in the sky and more on what people really need in 2022. Stop laughing.
So: A toast to Santa Manchin for giving us peace of mind this holiday season. We’ll leave out some cookies and milk.